State prison agency auctions off horses, notes lower turnout
The quiet horse auction started in prayer.
Attendance at Saturday’s ninth annual Arkansas Division of Correction auction, one of the few events not canceled this weekend, paled in comparison with previous years, according to division farm administrator Davey Farabough.
“Turnout was down,” Farabough said. “We had probably half as many bidders as we normally have.”
Despite overcast weather and advisories against social interaction, about 35 people arrived to bid on the horses, some of which sold for thousands of dollars.
These are working horses. They have been the transportation for law enforcement officers overseeing such operations as inmates working on the prison farms.
“We use horses because of the safety for our officers,” said prisons horse program coordinator Tom Green. “The officer obviously needs transportation. … He watches his squad work and keeps them under security.”
Inmates who volunteer for work on the farms labor in various positions, such as growing and picking vegetables or feeding and training the horses.
“I have inmates working in the horse barn,” Green said. “Every morning, they come in at 6 a.m. They work all day there in the barn — either in shoeing and training and feeding and caring for the horses or simply cleaning around the barn.”
And for Saturday’s auction, the inmates prepared the horses for life beyond the prison gates. The goal is to find the animals good homes. Some of the steeds, called “babysitters,” offer gentle rides. Others, called “project horses,” are generally younger, more lively and sometimes harder to ride.
This can lead to some surprises in the bidding, Green said. A 21-year-old sorrel mare named Brandy was the most popular pre-auction horse and sold for nearly $5,000, despite her age.
“I was surprised at all the interest in the horse yesterday when they were viewing it, and so many people wanted it,” Green said. “I knew it would be a high seller. I did not realize it would be that high.”
Some of the buyers purchase multiple horses, planning to sell them for profit instead of keeping them for personal use. It’s a reality that the Correction Division deals with, but the preference is that the horses go to families, Farabough said.
“Our ultimate goal is to get them into the family setting,” Farabough said. “And that is our ultimate goal because we want these horses to go to the good homes and the families to be able to enjoy them, but there’s no way at a public auction that we can prevent people that have the opportunity to buy these horses and sell them at a profit.”
Still, some families were able to buy a few of the animals Saturday.
One teenage girl sat next to her parents when a 13-yearold sorrel mare came up for bid. The horse, named Lola, was a gentle riding horse, according to the auctioneer.
The girl and another bidder battled over the horse until the girl made the winning bid. After the pronouncement that she had won, she promptly hugged her dad.
The family is one of the regulars at the auction.
“When she came to preview day yesterday, that was the horse she picked out and she rode and she liked,” Farabough said. “I was so happy that they were able to get it today.”